The Effect of Lobbying on Public Opinion Research Paper - 1

The Effect of Lobbying on Public Opinion - Research Paper Example A big extent is the use of the right public relations tools to inform and more crucially, shape opinion. It involves influencing the public process of debates, discussions, and consultations in order to have good or favorable public opinion. In today's modern society, there is widespread use of lobbyists who are either volunteers or some people paid to speak on one's behalf as an advocate. In this regard, part of lobbying is the intent of influencing the legislative process by having favorable laws enacted in relation to a persons or groups special interests. Before a bill becomes a law, drafts are passed around with their justifications and aimed to judge a public reaction (OECD, 2009, p. 160). The public process – lobbyists are required to meet legislators several times. In some cases, lobbying brings about good results as it raises public awareness of certain issues. A good example is recent laws regarding the prevalence and dangers of school bullying which had not been noticed before until some students committed suicides due to bullying. In this instance, the parents are now re-assured their kids are safe at school because of the advocacy or lobbying by a parent of a bullying victim to introduce new laws or to persuade a legislator to vote in a certain way to approve the proposed bill against school bullying (Walston-Dunham, 2008, p. 63). On the other hand, the legislator has gotten a good idea of how public opinion stands on certain issues as relayed to him or her by the lobbyist or advocacy groups.